TALE Fast Forward

Two groups of my Class 8 pupils have recently visited the National Museum and took part in the workshops in English.

Before the visit, we talked about museums, whether they like visiting them or not, how we should behave there, and I showed them the presentation of our museum and the video showing how not to behave at the museum. I also asked them to guess the meaning of certain words.

The museum educators organised a tour of the permanent exhibition in English and later divided the pupils into five groups: Fashion, Cool Stuff, Before Selfies, Spin & Play, Chat & Chill. The pupils were asked to read and complete worksheets, answer riddles, match, design something, and later everyone shared their creative works and opinion.

Most pupils enjoyed the activities, some even did two worksheets, while a few complained about the reading and writing part of the activities.

Republic Foreign Languages Competition 2024

 Nearly 1,500 Class 8 pupils from different regions of Serbia took part in the Republic English language competition on 7 April in Belgrade. 

Vanja tried his best to do reading (8/8) and listening (6/7) comprehension and grammar (19/30) tests, and qualify for the speaking test, but the grammar part was a bit challenging (missed 6 points), so he was not invited to the last round. 

Nevertheless, it was a fantastic opportunity for him to meet new friends and hang out with them, walk along the famous pedestrian streets and round Kalemegdan Park, and visit the Uroš Predić – the Noble Essence of Everyday Life exhibition at the SASA Gallery showcasing artwork from various collections.

HIPPO 2023 European Finals

 The European finals of the Hippo English Language Olympiad on 23 - 25 May in Jesolo, Italy, gathered 176 competitors from 22 countries. 

This was a fantastic opportunity for the children to make new friends, play on the beach, solve challenges in a team Treasure Hunt around the resort, hang out and take photos with the mascot Ippo, try Italian specialties, as well as visit nearby Venice by boat and spend a wonderful afternoon exploring this special open-air museum.

My Class 5 pupil, Nikola Tomić, competed against 37 other peers from 18 countries and scored 30 points in the Hypo 1 category, 9 fewer than the first-placed girl from Bulgaria. The award ceremony was held at the Vivaldi Auditorium on 24 May.

Connecting with Google

 On 23 February, my Class 5 and Class 7 pupils attended the online meeting with young people from our country who live in London and Dublin and have some of the most in-demand tech jobs at Google.

After a short introduction, Anastasija, Mina, Miloš and Đorđe described what their job interview was like and what skills they had to demonstrate in order to be hired. They also described a typical day in their lives, and then answered the numerous questions of my pupils.

This was a unique opportunity for my pupils to learn more about the work in the tech industry such as Google, but also to discuss whether one day artificial intelligence will replace humans.

The online meeting is a follow-up on the European Schoolnet's Edu-Hackathon with Google workshops held in December in Brussels.

Book Fair 2022

 October is the book month in Serbia. Libraries usually organise different activities to promote reading. Some schools also organise book donations. But, one of the most important events takes place in the second half of October - the Belgrade Book Fair, the largest one in this part of Europe.

A group of teachers and older pupils visited the Fair on 30 October:

Learning in Museums

During their visit, the pupils and their teachers from Croatia, Hungary, Romania, Turkey and Spain, involved in the KA229 project Measure me up! explored the National Museum on 22 March and learned about the cultural heritage of our town and art in an interesting way.

On 23 March, we visited two museums in Novo Miloševo, stepped back in time, saw some old farm equipment and learned how the people used to live in this part of the country.

On 24 March, we explored the Nikola Tesla Museum and the Museum of Science and Technology in Belgrade, heard interesting facts about the famous inventor and saw various life-changing inventions.

TALE Fast Forward

This autumn, I joined the innovative project Teach Art Learn English of the Pavle Beljanski Memorial Collection from Novi Sad and the Association of English Language Teachers ELTA from Belgrade.

The project is aimed to bring older students closer to the cultural heritage of the town and art in English.

The curators from our National Museum, another English language teacher and I have designed educational materials for workshops in English: Fashion, Before Selfies, Chat & Chill, Cool Stuff, and Spin & Play.

Before the visit, I organised a pre-visit lesson on 23 November for a group of Class 7 and Class 8 students. They shared their favourite museum memories, read the text about our National Museum, answered some comprehension questions, went through the glossary, watched a video clip showing how not to behave at the museum, and enjoyed playing the escape game.

The pilot TALE workshop at the National Museum was organised on 27 November and was greatly enjoyed by everyone. First, the students visited the permanent exhibition of the Museum with curators. Then, they were divided into five groups, according to the topics. In their groups, they chose a work of art or exhibit to analyse, and finally designed something by themselves.

The Flex Programme

Branislav Nolin, a Grammar School student who spent 10 months in the USA as an exchange FLEX student organised an interesting presentation for Class 8 students on 3 October. 

First, he introduced the FLEX programme funded by the US Department of State, explained the criteria and methods of appying and testing. He also shared a few tips on how to complete the application.

Then, he talked about his host family and friends he met in the USA, his school, the town he lived in, voluntary work and his trip around the USA. 

A classroom full of students showed interest in the American laws, school subjects, and after school activities.

This was an excellent opportunity for Class 8 students to find out more about the American way of life and education system from a person who has recently experienced it. Several of them expressed their willingness to apply for the Scholarship in the next round.